[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 17, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70339-70341]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28926]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Comment Request

    The Social Security Administration (SSA) publishes a list of 
information collection packages requiring clearance by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with Public Law (Pub. L.) 
104-13, the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, effective October 1, 1995. 
This notice includes revisions to OMB-approved information collections.
    SSA is soliciting comments on the accuracy of the agency's burden 
estimate; the need for the information; its practical utility; ways to 
enhance its quality, utility, and clarity; and ways to minimize burden 
on respondents,

[[Page 70340]]

including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of 
information technology. Mail, email, or fax your comments and 
recommendations on the information collection(s) to the OMB Desk 
Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following addresses or 
fax numbers.
    (OMB) Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974, E-mail address: [email protected].
    (SSA) Social Security Administration, DCBFM, Attn: Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1333 Annex Building, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, 
MD 21235, Fax: 410-965-6400, E-mail address: [email protected].
    SSA submitted the information collections listed below to OMB for 
clearance. Your comments on the information collections would be most 
useful if OMB and SSA receive them within 30 days from the date of this 
publication. To be sure we consider your comments, we must receive them 
no later than December 17, 2010. You can obtain a copy of the OMB 
clearance packages by calling the SSA Reports Clearance Officer at 410-
965-8783 or by writing to the above e-mail address.
    1. Private Printing and Modification of Prescribed Application and 
Other Forms--20 CFR 422.527--0960-0663. 20 CFR 422.527 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations requires a person, institution, or organization 
(third-party entities) to obtain approval from SSA prior to 
reproducing, duplicating, or privately printing any application or 
other form the agency owns. SSA collects the information to ensure 
requests comply with the law and regulations. SSA uses the information 
to process requests from third-party entities who want to reproduce, 
duplicate, or privately print any SSA application or other SSA form. To 
obtain SSA's approval, entities must make their requests in writing, 
using their company letterhead, providing the required information set 
forth in the regulation. SSA employees review the requests and provide 
approval via e-mail or mail to the third-party entities. The 
respondents are third-party entities who submit requests to SSA to 
reproduce, duplicate, or privately print an SSA-owned form.
    Type of Request: Extension of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 10.
    Frequency of Response: 15.
    Number of Responses: 150.
    Average Burden Per Response: 8 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 20 hours.
    2. Request for Waiver of Special Veterans Benefits (SVB) 
Overpayment Recovery or Change in Repayment Rate--20 CFR 408.900-
408.950, 408.923(b), 408.931(b), 408.932(c), (d) and (e), 408.941(b) 
and 408.942--0960-0698. Title VIII of the Social Security Act allows 
SSA to pay a monthly benefit to a qualified World War II veteran who 
resides outside the United States. When an overpayment in SVB occurs, 
the beneficiary can request a waiver of recovery of the overpayment or 
a change in the repayment rate. SSA uses the SSA-2032-BK to obtain the 
information necessary to establish whether the claimant met the waiver 
of recovery provisions of the overpayment, and to determine the 
repayment rate if we do not waive repayment. Respondents are 
beneficiaries who have overpayments on their Title VIII record and wish 
to file a claim for waiver of recovery or change in repayment rate.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.
    Number of Respondents: 450.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden per Response: 120 minutes.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 900 hours.
    3. Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Process--20 
CFR 400.100--0960-0760. The Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) 
Verification (CBSV) process is a fee-based, automated SSN verification 
service available to private businesses and other requesting parties. 
To use the system, private businesses and requesting parties must 
register with SSA and obtain valid consent from SSN number holders 
prior to verification. We collect the information to verify if the 
submitted name and SSN match the information in SSA records. After 
completing a registration process and paying the fee, the requesting 
party can use the CBSV Internet application to submit a file containing 
names of number holders who have given valid consent, along with each 
number holder's accompanying SSN and date of birth (if available). They 
also have the option to obtain real-time results using a web service 
application or SSA's Business Services Online application.
    SSA matches the information against the SSA master file of SSNs, 
using SSN, name, date of birth, and gender code (if available). The 
requesting party retrieves the results file from SSA, which indicates 
only a match or no match for each SSN submitted.
    Under the CBSV process, the requesting party does not submit the 
consent forms of the number holders to SSA. SSA requires each 
requesting party to retain a valid consent form for each SSN 
verification request. The requesting party retains the consent forms in 
either electronic or paper format.
    To ensure the integrity of the CBSV process, SSA added a strong 
audit component that requires audits (called ``compliance reviews'') at 
the discretion of the agency with all audit costs paid by the 
requesting party. Independent certified public accountants (CPA) 
conduct these reviews to ensure compliance with all the terms and 
conditions of the party's agreement with SSA, including a review of the 
consent forms. CPAs conduct the review at the requesting party's place 
of business to ensure the integrity of the process. In addition, SSA 
reserves the right to perform unannounced onsite inspections of the 
entire process, including review of the technical systems that maintain 
the data and transaction records. The respondents to the CBSV 
collection are the participating companies, members of the public who 
consent to the SSN verification, and CPAs who provide compliance review 
services.
    Type of Request: Revision of an OMB-approved information 
collection.

    Note: When SSA published the 60-day Federal Register notice for 
this collection on August 2, 2010 at 75 FR 45190, the burden figures 
we reported were correct at that time. We have updated the burden 
data that we are reporting in the burden chart below.

Time Burden

    Participating Companies:

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                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of     Frequency of      Number of      burden per       Estimated
           Requirement              respondents      response        responses       response      annual burden
                                                                                     (minutes)        (hours)
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Registration Process (new                   10 *               1              10             120              20
 participating companies or
 requesting parties)............
Creation of file with SSN holder             115         251 * *          28,865              60          28,865
 identification data;
 maintaining required
 documentation, forms...........

[[Page 70341]]

 
Using the system to upload                   115             251          28,865               5           2,405
 request file, check status, and
 download results file..........
Storing Consent Forms...........             115             251          28,865              60          28,865
Activities related to compliance             115             251          28,865              60          28,865
 review.........................
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    Total.......................  ..............  ..............         115,470  ..............          89,020
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* One-time registration; approximately 10 new participating companies per year.
* * Please note: There are 251 Federal business days per year on which a requesting party could submit a file.

    People whose SSNs SSA Will Verify:

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                                                                                  Average burden     Estimated
           Requirement               Number of     Frequency of      Number of     per response    annual burden
                                    respondents      response        responses       (minutes)        (hours)
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Reading and signing                      986,585               1         986,585               3          49,329
 authorization for SSA to
 release SSN verification.......
Responding to CPA re-contact....           5,750               1           5,750               5             479
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    Total.......................         992,335  ..............  ..............  ..............          49,808
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    CPAs (conducting compliance reviews and preparing written report of 
findings):
    Number of Respondents: 115.
    Frequency of Response: 1.
    Average Burden Per Response: 4,800.
    Estimated Annual Burden: 9,200 hours.
    Total Collective Burden: 148,028.

Cost Burden

    The public burden cost is dependent upon the number of companies 
and transactions. SSA based the cost estimates below upon 115 
participating companies submitting 986,585 transactions. The total cost 
for developing the system was $5.6 million. SSA has already expended 
$3.0 million we will recoup over the depreciable life of the system 
based on the fee per-transaction model.
    One-Time Per Company Registration Fee--$5,000.
    Estimated Per SSN Transaction Fee--$5.00.\i\
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    \i\ The annual costs associated with the transaction to each 
company are dependent upon the number of SSN transactions submitted 
to SSA by the company on a yearly basis. For example, if a company 
anticipates submitting 1 million requests to SSA for the year, its 
total transaction cost for the year would be $5 x 1,000,000 or 
$5,000,000. Periodically, SSA will calculate its costs to provide 
CBSV services and adjust the fee charged as needed. SSA will notify 
companies in writing of any change and companies will have the 
opportunity to cancel the agreement or continue service using the 
new transaction fee.
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    Estimated Per Company Cost to Build Optional Web Service--
$200,000.\ii\
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    \ii\ A company may choose to submit batch files via the SSA web 
site or submit real-time individual requests via the SSA Web site. 
There is no public burden cost with either of these methods using 
the CBSV system. Companies are not required to purchase SSA's Web 
design service. To date, no participating companies have opted for 
this service.
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    Estimated Per Company Cost to Store Consent Forms--$300.
    Estimated Per Company Cost To Contract with CPA for Audit--$8,000.

    Dated: November 10, 2010.
Liz Davidson,
Center Director, Social Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-28926 Filed 11-16-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P